NBA: Stephen Curry headlines a redrafting of the 2009 draft class

11. Brooklyn Nets – Tyreke Evans, Memphis

With the 11th pick in the 2009 NBA Draft, the Brooklyn Nets select Tyreke Evans.

Tyreke Evans is another guy who I have been able to watch quite a bit of under a microscope during his one year stint with the Pacers. When the Pacers signed Tyreke I was very excited. I thought that he would be exactly the piece they needed to run the bench unit and provide some consistent scoring. Unfortunately, that is not exactly what happened in Indiana, it didn’t quite seem to be the right fit.

Before his time with the Pacers, Evans enjoyed one of the best seasons of his career with Memphis, averaging 19.4 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 5.2 assists a game on 45-40-79 shooting. For his career, Tyreke averages 15.7 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 4.8 assists per game, while shooting 44-32-76 from the floor and posting a 17.1 PER.

While his shooting splits aren’t the best to the eye, it has to be remembered that for essentially the entirety of his career, he was asked to be a primary playmaker on teams that were not very good. As far as pure talent and playmaking ability goes, Tyreke Evans stacks up with just about everyone in this class.

In fact, he was named rookie of the year at the end of the 2009-10 season. That is why I still have him being drafted in the lottery.